Hollow Wish
by Hawki
Summary: Fallen Frontier Story: Earth was dying. The Solar system was being stripped bare. Alpha Centauri offered a new beginning. A new future. At least for those able to go. One however, didn't. Not at first. Not before seeing the stars...
1. Earth

**Fallen Frontier: Hollow Wish**

**Chapter 1: Earth**

The coffin felt hollow.

Chia Alignak knew it wasn't. The coffin contained her brother's body. The coffin was on its way to Karori Crematorium. The coffin currently had six pall bearers, including herself, but it was so light Chia thought it could do with two.

But she still carried it. Down the steps of the All Saints Church. Down through the dry summer air. Down under the beat of the afternoon sun, its light shining brightly, as if to mock her. Down to the waiting crematorium van.

PLACE CASKET ON GROUND BY REAR. DO NOT APPROACH. Chia looked at the sign on the truck's side. She looked up at the driver in the cabin above, idly thumping is fingers on the wheel. She looked at Father Cerritos, giving his last blessings.

"May the son return to the father."

_Nik…_

"May he join the side of his mother."

_Why? Why did you die?_

"May all be united under the father of us all."

_Why?_

"Amen."

_Why?!_

Fighting the storm of emotion inside her, Chia kept her gaze passive as the coffin was lowered onto the ground, and picked up by a robotic claw, the same way garbage used to be collected back in the days of landfill. She glanced up as it entered the cavernous maw that was its trailer, the frame holding dozens of coffins like it. All deceased, mostly from malaria, heat-waves, and other climate-related afflictions. All bodies waiting to be incinerated. Not enough room to be buried nowadays. Too much time taken also. No-one got buried nowadays unless they had the money for it. And despite the human race's stupidity, most people had the sense to spend money during their life than on death.

Chia lowered her gaze as the truck sped off, as did the rest of the procession. She would never see her brother again, she reflected. Never. Not even at the crematorium. Visitors would only interfere with operations. Nik had been twelve, ten years her junior. She had been his sister. His foster mother after their parents died. And now, he was dead.

_Dead_.

Chia glanced at those around her. Some friends of hers. A few of Nik's.

_Dead._

They smiled at her. Some stayed. Others left.

_Dead_.

What was one more death in the world?

_Dead._

It…left her mind, as her phone began to vibrate. She picked it up, half expecting to see the Grim Reaper to look back at her.

_Dead…oh God…oh God!_

It was Phoebe's face actually.

* * *

"Coffee?"

"You can afford coffee?"

"Centaurus can afford constructing a colonization ship to take people to Alpha Centauri. So yes, we can afford coffee."

Chia watched as Phoebe pressed a button on a desk. She watched as how a few seconds later, a hover tray came in through the open door, bearing two mugs of steaming liquid that she assumed was coffee. She watched as Phoebe picked up the mugs, sent the tray out, closed the door, and set both of the beverages on the desk. Chia just sat there.

"You're meant to drink it you know."

"I'll wait until it cools down."

"Fine."

Chia watched as Phoebe took a sip of her own cup, as sky traffic passed by outside the window, dotted throughout the Wellington skyline. She looked at her acquaintance.

"Listen, since we're friends-"

"Phoebe, I haven't seen you in five years. I think we're acquaintances at best."

"As _friends_," Phoebe repeated, "and as family, I'd like to say I'm sorry about Nik's death."

"Nikkal," Chia murmured.

"Nik, as you called him, and as a friend, as his cousin also, I'd like to think I could call him that as well."

"Well, call him what you want. His ashes are probably floating outside your window right now."

Phoebe looked at her. Taking a sip of the coffee and swallowing the liquid despite its bitter taste, Chia looked right back. Phoebe looked much the same when last she saw her, she reflected. Back when she'd been hired. Back when she announced that she wouldn't be seeing much of her or Nik since she announced she'd be spending the next five years in admin on Centaurus's Europa base. A little older, a little ganglier, but otherwise, much the same. Southeast Asian, elements of Caucasian and Maori somewhere down the family tree. Much like herself.

"You look…well," Chia began.

"I spent three months in zero-g on my way back from Europa," Phoebe snapped. "So before you ask, no, I don't feel one-hundred percent, and yes, I'm taking time out of my schedule to see you."

"Why?"

"Because you're a friend. It's what friends do." She got to her feet, resting one hand on her desk, while stretching another to a cabinet. "And after Nik, I think you need a helping hand."

"Don't bring my brother into this Phoebe."

"Fine. But I'd like to bring you into this."

Chia looked at "this" as Phoebe handed it to her. It amounted to forms, a diagram of a starship, and even more forms. It was the second thing that caught her eye.

"CSV _Zodiac_," she murmured. She looked up at her cousin. "You pick that name?"

"No, Centaurus did. First colony ship to Alpha Centauri, figured it should have a good title."

"I thought colony ships had been sent years ago."

"Thirty-four years ago to be specific." Phoebe took another sip of her coffee before setting down the empty mug on the table. "All automated, all headed for Centauri Three. And while Centaurus hasn't announced this yet, we've just got a signal sent back. Colony's started to be constructed. Atmosphere and gravity are optimal. Six months from now we'll be sending our first human colonists, and twenty-five years from then, they'll be taking small steps for women and giant steps for womankind."

"And men?"

"Fine, men too." Phoebe let out a chuckle. "Even men have their uses. Still, everyone has a use, and since we're friends, I figured I could get you on the list." She gestured to the forms. "Requires paperwork of course."

Chia glanced at the forms. They seemed to involve everything from date of birth and nationality, to full disclosure of being under extra-national jurisdiction to the prospect of never seeing Earth again. Not that many people who embarked on the trip would want to, she thought.

"Well?" Phoebe asked. "It's twenty-five years on ice. But since you've got no immediate family-"

"Is that why you waited?" Chia snapped. "For Nik to die? To say, 'oh so sorry pal, brother's dead, why don't you run away to-"

"Chia, that isn't fair."

"Fair," she sneered. She got to her feet and walked out to the window, watching as the sun set over the Wellington skyline. "You think it's fair that I spent five months watching my brother succumb to malaria? You think it's fair that I spent all that time hoping, wishing, hell, even praying that some miracle might happen? You think it's fair that people like you get to zoom off to other planets while the rest of us dwell in the mud."

"Don't talk to me about mud Chia, you don't know the half of it. You think it's bad here, just wait until you see what things are like from orbit."

"Oh, I'll see alright." Chia turned around. "That's why I took a job with Axiom Mining."

Phoebe turned pale. "The moon?" she asked.

"Yeah, the moon. Five years of my life, set up for the rest of it."

"The moon," Phoebe repeated. "Chia, have you any idea what the casualty rates are like up there?"

"Can't be worse than down here."

"Oh, so you _do _want to leave. You just don't want to take that next big step, is that it?"

"Phoebe, you can take all the steps you want. You can step on Europa, on Earth, on Centauri number-something if you want. But don't drag me into it, don't call me friend-"

"Chee-"

"Don't call me that!" Chia yelled, slamming her fist on the table and causing her coffee to spill over. "You're my cousin, and that's all! Once you got your job, you said you'd help us! Mum, dad, Nik, and me! And you just take off instead and leave us to rot!"

"I-"

"No Phoebe, I've had it. Nik's dead. My parents are dead. And since you'll be leaving this dump forever in five years' time, I guess I won't be able to consider you family anymore. So I'm doing my own thing, on my own terms, and I won't let you make me do otherwise."

"No-one's making you do anything Chee," Phoebe murmured. She leant back in her chair. "I just thought-"

"Don't think." Chia got up and headed for the door. "And don't presume." She opened it.

"I'll keep the place open," Phoebe said. "Just in case you-"

Chia slammed the door. She kept on walking. Through the office. To the elevators.

It was only when she got in one that she allowed the tears to come.


	2. Space

**Fallen Frontier: Hollow Wish**

**Chapter 2: Space**

The shuttle felt hollow.

Chia shivered in the gloom under her safety harness. During lift-off from Canterbury Starport, it had been to keep her body in place during the launch sequence. Now it was to keep her body in place as zero-gravity took over.

"Ugh…oh God…ark!"

Which was a problem as someone's breakfast entered the cabin space. The few other passengers cursed. The poor sod apologised before vomiting again, though this time reaching his barf bag in time.

"Sorry guys I-"

And the barf bag was used once again.

Cold, hollow, and now, the shuttle felt dirty as well. Chia watched as the cockpit's hatch opened up and the co-pilot came drifting out, armed with a barf bag of his own. She watched as he silently scooped up the muck in a single glide, before pushing off the shuttle's glass rear to head back to his pilot's seat. In Chia's mind, his silence felt indicative of the shuttle as a whole. Because with the passenger bay able to seat up to sixty, and the number of passengers barely being a quarter of that capacity, the shuttle felt hollow. Empty. Like a tomb.

_Well, if we die in space, least we won't have to worry about decomposition._

Chia smiled faintly.

_Actually, there's oxygen in here. So while there was that contaminant spray, you'll still be a space zombie if something goes wrong._

The smile faded. And as she looked at the shuttle's rear, it didn't return.

_So that's home, _she thought, looking at the blue and brown sphere before her. _No wonder Phoebe wants off._

Looking at the sight, partly obscured by the ionized particles from the shuttle's thrusters, Chia was reminded of a trip she took with her family to what used to be the Great Barrier Reef. It was bleached and bereft of life, but still amounted to a majestic sight for Earth's biosphere in this day and age. Looking through the glass viewport at the shuttle's edge, she was reminded of the glass bottom boat they'd used. The reef had been a graveyard. And from here, the rest of the planet seemed to be on the same path. She could see the deserts of Australia. The fires of Malaysia. The cityscapes of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. New Zealand seemed to be doing alright, but having lived there all her life, Chia knew better. And even from here, she could see the signs. The urban sprawl. The beginnings of desertification. And this was only part of the southern hemisphere. As the shuttle's distance increased, soon this entire side of the planet would be in her gaze.

_Great. Spectacular. _

"Nice view isn't it?"

_What?_

It didn't take long for Chia to find the source of the comment – a man sitting directly opposite her, roughly the same age, roughly the same height, and of mixed ethnicity (likely Arabic she thought, with maybe some Italian blood as well). Processing the comment was much harder.

"The planet," he said. "It's a nice view."

And the man's comments weren't making it any easier.

"It's considerate, really," he continued. "Allowing us to see out like this. I remember when-"

"Look," Chia interrupted. "You sound like a nice guy, but right now, I don't care."

The man laughed. "Gonna be on the moon for five years. Might have to get used to the talk."

Chia looked around the cabin desperately, hoping that there was another passenger that might be interested in sharing her burden. There didn't seem to be any such luck, as all the others were already in their own private conversations (which included a lot of barf jokes, she could tell), or had established themselves as being in no mood for small talk.

"Name's Jarillo," the man said. "Jarillo Bendis. But my friends call me Jarl."

"Well, listen, Jarillo," Chia said. "I'm sure you can have fun talking to your friends from the moon. But I'm not your friend, I'm not here to chat, and I really don't care what you have to say, alright?"

Chia turned back to the shuttle's rear. The shuttle was further out from Earth, and as Asia and Russia took shape as the planet receded into the darkness of space, she could see the conditions of the southern hemisphere were matched in the north. She knew that she was in for six hours of this sight until the shuttle turned around for its landing sequence.

"Just think, eh? Used to take three days for this trip. Now we can make it in-"

_Oh God just shut up!_

Chia turned away from the view, and glanced around the shuttle again. So Jarl was the perky one. She took mental notes of the angry one, the mopey one, and the queasy one. Barf-man, she decided his name was.

_And I'm the poor angry loner who lost…_

She closed her eyes. Nik. She could see his face. His last breaths. His begging for water. Medicine. Things that she could provide, but were useless in the end. The bug spread with rising temperatures, and had become resistant to every drug along the way.

_Nik…_

She looked back at the view. Some people got their ashes spread into space after death. Nik's were probably at the Wairapa by now.

_God…_

She closed her eyes tighter. The old bastard in the sky was probably laughing his arse off. A second Eden ruined. Maybe on the giant pool table that was the galaxy the cue stick was already being lined up at Centauri-whatever-its-name-was. Maybe it would get Phoebe too.

_Phoebe…_

Chia opened her eyes. Jarl's eyes met hers.

"You alright?"

"Yes."

"Oh. It's just, you're crying."

Chia blinked. It was enough to dislodge the water. She watched it float into the cabin, the droplets barely keeping cohesion.

"Y'know, I didn't get your name-"

"Name's Chia, you can't call me Chee, my brother's dead, my cousin is the only family I've got left, and I want nothing more to do with her." She closed her eyes again. "Or you, alright?"

"Sure," Jarl said. "But, if you need someone to talk to…"

Chia looked around the cabin. Barf-man was already on his third gag bag.

"Yeah," she said eventually. "Talk would be nice."

* * *

"So you were offered a chance to go to Alpha Centauri."

"Yes."

"And you refused."

"Yes."

"Well, that was…um…"

"Yes?"

"Stupid."

Chia glanced at Jarl. "Did I ask for your opinion?"

"No, but you asked for talk."

"Yeah?" she asked. "So why are you here then?"

Jarl shrugged. And Chia felt like kicking herself.

_Why's he here? Probably the same reason the rest of us are here. To work, to get paid, and hopefully not get killed._

The passengers walked down the corridor that joined the shuttle hanger to the complex proper. She watched as one of the aspiring miners stumbled, muttering something about gravity as he got up. Indeed, as she walked, she could feel the effects of the moon's lower gravity already. She felt lighter. Physically at least. But psychologically…

_I'm here. I could have gone to a different star system and I'm here on this dirt ball._

The group came to a stop at the corridor's end, a door before them. Barf-man struggled to keep whatever remained in his stomach within his body.

_Better than being frozen and sent off to colonize some hellhole._

One of the guards started typing on a keypad by the door.

_And five years of this is better?_

The door opened.

_After those years I'll be set up for life._

The group started walking in.

_And what life is there left to live? No family. One less friend once Phoebe leaves._

Chia walked through the door. She saw a lecture theatre.

_And Phoebe's technically family too and-_

The door closed, she took a chair, and stopped thinking. Nik was dead, Phoebe was 384,000km away, and in six months' time she'd start getting even further than that. There was no reason to think about her, she told herself. Not when a company suit was standing behind a podium, waiting for orientation to start. And for Barf-man to stop coughing.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

No-one answered.

"Good. Because lots of things are going to go wrong for all of you over your time here and I don't need to act space sickness to the list."

Chia found herself sitting up straighter and staring at the lecturer. Tall, gangly, extremely pale, he reminded her of one of the Greys of ancient science fiction. An alien intelligence that was beyond humanity.

"Indeed," he continued, "living on a satellite with only a fifth of Earth's gravity presents all kinds of issues. Your bones will become more brittle. Your fat content will increase. Your vitamin d content will go down. And that's provided you live long enough to even worry about any of that."

Chia glanced at Jarl. She didn't know why, but for a moment, despite her earlier attempts, she was reminded of Nik. Her parents. People long dead that she'd never see again. It was just…a desire to see someone she actually knew.

"So let's get this straight," the man said, pressing something on the podium, causing a projection screen to descend from the ceiling. "You're here to work. And to work, you need to survive. And to survive, you need to pay attention."

An image appeared on the screen, showing a rotating moon and the insignia of Artemis Mining appeared. One of many corporations that operated on the moon, Chia recalled. She'd seen from the shuttle's descent the huge man-made craters that had appeared on the lunar surface, overshadowing anything natural bolides had created. It then faded to show a table of contents, almost all of which seemed to pertain to safety and operations.

"For those of you who didn't read the brochure when you signed up, here's the intro blurb," the man said. "For the first month, you work for free. We teach you, you learn, you decide if this is your thing or not. Saves time, saves money, saves lives. You…yes?"

One of the passenger's hands had gone up. "Save lives?" Chia heard him say. "Um…I'd heard about the casualty rate, but-"

"I'm not at liberty to say," the man said. "But our last death occurred a week ago. Heart attack. Bozo decided that exercise wasn't for him and paid the price for it."

Chia found herself sliding down into her seat. She wanted to hide. To go back to a simpler time when she didn't have to worry about all the ways she might die. Or the non-terrestrial ways at least.

"So," the man continued, changing the image to a layout of the base. "Let's get the basics out of the way. I'm Chup Burlan, your employer, your supervisor, whatever. And this, kiddies," he smirked, "is hell."

Chia wanted to doubt that. But she saw the glint in his eyes. The look that said that he wasn't kidding.

_Only five years, _she told herself. _Five years…_

She glanced at Jarl again. His eyes were fixed on the screen. It was displaying images and text, but she wasn't watching. Burlan was talking, but she wasn't listening. She-

_Nik…_

"So, the important thing is to-"

_Phoebe…I wanted to do this. Succeed on my own terms. _

"Ma'am?"

_God, I-_

"Is there a problem miss?"

Chia looked up. Burlan was staring at her. So was everyone else in the room.

"Is something wrong?" he asked again, his voice low.

"I…

_I'm alone. My brother's dead. My cousin and friend is going to leave for a different planet. I might die here, and even if I don't, all the money in the world isn't going to make Earth worth living on. It's wrong. All wrong. It-_

"Ma'am!"

"No," Chia lied, feeling as hollow as she had on the shuttle, as her dreams were revealed to be hollow as well. "Nothing's wrong."


	3. Moon

**Fallen Frontier: Hollow Wish**

**Chapter 3: Moon**

Chia felt hollow.

She told herself it was the lower gravity. Extra-terrestrial osteopenia. Her bones losing their density as the moon's pitiful gravity took its toll on her. Even if she'd only been here two weeks. Even such rapid loss was preferable to chalking up that feeling to an emotion of unfullfillment. Of lingering desire. Of regret. Of the certainty that she'd have to put up with another two weeks of being beaten down like a dog and potentially, a total of five years.

"You listening to me?"

Chia glanced at the tech. "Pardon?"

"Listen," the man said, tapping on her helmet. "Radio on, and keep it on, okay? Once you're on the surface, it's the only way people will hear you."

"Right," she said. "Radio. On."

The tech moved to one of the other applicants.

_Jackass._

Chia made a mental note to turn her radio on, but now wasn't the time. Not as she and the remaining five applicants hung around in the airlock, as techs fitted them out in their space suits. It was a task they'd be expected to master by the end of orientation, but apparently that was something that could wait.

"Chia."

She glanced at Jarl, completely outfitted in his spacesuit. Or deathsuits as some of the techs called them. "Chia?"

Half of the applicants had already left by choice or obligation. They'd never get to walk on the moon. To have their footprints recorded for eternity.

"Chia?"

_Unless they're bulldozed over. Or dug out of the ground._

"Hey."

Chia was drawn back to the present as Jarl nudged her. With the bulk of the suits, it felt like a shove.

"You okay?"

Chia sighed, her breath misting on her visor for a moment. "You still playing the role of daddy dearest?"

"No, I'm playing the role of curious friend-guy."

"Well you suck at it."

Chia started walking as best she could. The spacesuit was designed for the moon's low gravity, but on the metal floor of the airlock it felt like she was walking on piles of rocks.

_Won't I be doing that on the surface anyway?_

"Come on Chia, you-"

"Look," she snapped. "I don't care, okay? Maybe I'll be here for five years, maybe you'll be, maybe we'll both be, maybe neither of us will be."

"You don't have to spell out every possibility."

"I…" She trailed off. "Why are you here?"

"Pardon?"

"Here. On the moon.

"Why are you?" he asked. "You were given a free ticket to Alpha Centauri and-"

"And you're not answering the question."

Jarl sighed, and like a mirror image, she saw breath appear on his visor as well. What she also saw was Jarl walk over to the airlock hatch – a glass wall five inches thick that separated them from the wasteland outside.

"There," he said, gesturing his hands out. "That's what I'm here for. To see that."

"The surface of the moon?" Chia asked.

"No," he said, pointing his arm upwards. "That."

Chia walked over and followed his arm. To the sky. To Earth hanging up in it.

"Earth?" she sneered, folding her arms. "You wanted to see Earth?"

"An Earthrise, specifically," he whispered. "Course the lunar day is equivalent to twenty-seven Earth ones, so since I missed my chance a few days back, seeing it in the sky is the best I could hope for." He turned to look at her. "Unless I stay on."

A moment of silence passed between them. The room was filled with the sounds of footsteps as the techs helped the other workers with their gear. But for Chia, they might as well have been in vacuum already.

"That's it?" Chia asked incredulously. "An Earthrise? You fly a million miles just to see that mudball from here?"

Jarl shrugged. "Free trip. Can hardly take a spaceflight on a whim you know, not unless you have the money to pay for it."

"Right," Chia said. "Money. Earthrise." She chuckled. "God you're an idiot."

"Says the person who forsook the chance to see a new world entirely."

Chia opened her mouth, ready to snap back at him. But no words came out. The cat had her tongue, and she had no dog to get it back

Silently, she walked back towards the rear of the airlock. Jarl was right about one thing, she thought. Being here, she'd be seeing Earth for five years. If she'd taken Phoebe's offer, she'd have got to see a new world entirely.

_I'm not going._

She turned her radio on as a tech called for a final radio check. She watched as Jarl got into position as well, as a hatch from the rear of the airlock opened to reveal their field supervisor.

**Air venting in process, **droned an automated voice.

She glanced up at the sky through the airlock, no stars meeting her gaze.

_Five years of this. Or five times that number on ice._

Chia shivered as the airlock was opened. She didn't know why – her suit was automated to keep her body temperature at 37 degrees. And besides, she reminded herself, cryo-stasis wouldn't be any warmer.

_Alpha Centauri. That's the star system? Did the world have a name? Did I even ask?_

The applicants began to file out. As she followed, Chia glanced up at the sky.

Earth and the void of space glanced back down at her.

* * *

"Move it cupcake."

_Don't call me cupcake you-_

"You listening sunshine?" barked the foreman. "Keep up!"

Chia kept silent and quickened her pace. She wanted to say something, murmur something, but the radios' open channel prevented there from being any privacy, and if there was a method for private communication, she hadn't been told. She caught up with Jarl, who glanced her way, but otherwise remained silent. No radio transmission from him. And no sound either.

"Alright, gather round."

Before them was Supervisor Jaskierski. Behind him was a mining vehicle sending its drill into the cliff face of the open-cut mine, the rocks falling down in eerie silence. On the opposite ledge she could see workers setting up explosives.

"Alright newbies, listen up," the foreman said. "You know how to use those spacesuits, now it's time for you to put them to use."

_I'll put it to use alright. Once I learn how to kick I'll-_

"This isn't Earth," the foreman said, gesturing up towards the nearly featureless sky, Earth itself being the only exception. "Though I guess you know that by now."

Chia shifted in her suit. She had an itch.

"For instance, there's the dust itself," Jaskierski said. He knelt down and scooped up some of the regolith, the grey soil just hanging there in his glove. "Tears up suits, tears up wires, if it gets inside you, it'll tear up your lungs."

Chia shifted again. The itch was still there.

"And there's also the gravity itself." He gestured up to the cliff wall where the explosives were being set up. "What might those guys have to keep in mind when compared to similar work on Earth?"

No-one raised their hand.

"Anyone?"

Jarl slowly raised his.

"Speak up. You can whisper if you want, I'll still hear you."

"Um, something to do with the lack of air?" he asked. "Vacuum?"

"Sort of. But more accurately, it's the lower gravity. When rocks are flying everywhere, they'll go much further."

"But hit softer," one of the other applicants ventured.

"Kinda. But since that space suit is the only thing protecting your eyes being sucked from your sockets, that won't count for much."

"Heads up fellas."

Chia blinked – those words hadn't come from the foreman, or any of the other applicants. But as she saw him gesture up to the mine ledge, she realized it had come from the people on the ledge. Already they were making their way across a scaffold.

"Basalt," Jaskierski said. He grinned. "Or the black gold as some call it."

"Thought that was oil," Chia murmured.

"Is there a problem, newbie?" the supervisor asked.

_Shit._

"I said," Jaskierski began, stepping towards her, "is there a problem?"

"I…" Chia trailed off.

"Well?"

She remained silent. Her eyes were fixed on the sky. Of the rocks sailing through it. Higher than she would have thought possible. Slower than she would have thought possible.

"Newbie?!"

_Course it's the moon. Lower gravity, so slower descent. And higher altitude. Longer range too…_

The rocks neared.

"If you don't answer, I-"

Coming closer. Someone was screaming over the radio. Jaskierski heard it too. Or he seemed to as he turned around and started tapping on his helmet.

_Rocks near. High. Close. Near. They-_

"Run!"

Chia didn't know who shouted that. Maybe it was the workers on the scaffold, maybe Jaskierski, maybe Jarl. But it was Jarl himself who grabbed her. Jarl who started pulling along as quickly as their spacesuits would allow. Jarl who got them moving as the rocks landed all around them.

_Shit!_

They kept stumbling. Hopping, running, moving any way they could. Rocks landed around them, throwing up the lunar soil in silent bursts. One landed just in front of her, sending soil onto her visor. Chia scrubbed it as best she could as she kept moving. And failed, as she tripped onto the ground.

_Nik…_

Nik had been lying down when he died. Nik's death had been long.

_Slow death. I-_

She saw Jarl turn around to her.

_Phoebe. Gonna die. You're gonna go to another planet and I'll be dead on this lifeless rock._

She saw Jarl reach out a hand.

_Oh God…why did I-_

And she saw him fall as a rock smashed through his visor.

"Jarl!"

Chia forgot about death. She focussed on life.

"I-"

She crawled across the soil. The rocks had stopped falling, as if Heaven had ceased to cast judgement upon Hell.

"Jarl?"

And yet she felt like no angel. If anything, she felt like one who had-

"No!"

Fallen.

He was dead. She'd seen the rock smash through his visor. It had also done a number on his face. She spun away, putting a hand to her mouth, only for it to touch her own visor.

It was only then that she heard the screaming.

The group had scattered as well. All of them were down on the ground. One of them was putting a glove to his arm as blood poured out, the liquid boiling away.

_Nik…_

Chia closed her eyes. Death. Always death.

_Jarl…_

She wanted to look back. But couldn't. Wouldn't.

_Phoebe…_

She looked up at the sky. At the blackness. The darkness. It looked back at her.

_Always death._

She looked at Earth. In all its brown. In all its blue. In all its life, and death, and joy, and sorrow, and-

_I can't stay here._

Chia shook her head. She was feeling light-headed. She…saw her oxygen indicator on her suit's right arm reach zero.

_O2 tank ruptured?_

She looked back at Earth. It stared back at her.

_Not there either…_

She looked back at Jarl's body.

_You got your Earthrise Jarl. Maybe. Don't know if that counts._

For a moment, she wanted to laugh. Or weep.

A moment after that, she was unconscious.


	4. Void

**Fallen Frontier: Hollow Wish**

**Chapter 4: Void**

The coffin felt hollow.

It wasn't that Jarl was light, Chia thought. It was the gravity. Jarl weighed 80kg on Earth, but here, it was around 13.

"As we prepare to commit the body of the fallen to the Allfather-"

She kept walking. She and the other individuals chosen to act as the pall-bearers.

"…we recall that the consciousness never dies. It lives while the universe lives. It soars where there is light. It-"

_Never figured you to be a Solipsist Jarl._

Solipsism. Once a quaint idea, not a religion of its own. The idea that the universe was conscious, and that all life was fragments of that consciousness. And according to records, Jarl believed in such a thing.

_Well, we gotta believe in something right?_

Chia didn't know. But she rested the coffin on the conveyor belt anyway.

"And by the grace of the universe, may you accept your son into your mind."

Chia lowered her gaze. So did everyone else. Only when a hatch at the other end of the belt opened and closed did she raise it.

_Nik…_

She shook her head. This was Jarl, not Nik, she told herself.

_They're both dead._

Deaths were common on the moon and Artemis Mining had made accommodation for the deceased…to an extent. Bodies wouldn't be cremated due to oxygen consumption, but there were still means of disposal. Some were buried in a lunar crypt, their bodies preserved forever in the vacuum. Some were shipped back to Earth. And some, like Jarl, were to be loaded into a mass driver and fired into the void of space. To sail the stars.

_Nik's sailing around on Earth._

Chia found her itch coming back. This was Jarl. Not Nik. Why-

**Launching, **droned a voice.

_Where's Nik now? On Earth? Is he beyond? Is he part of the fucking universe?!_

The mass driver fired with a loud 'clang.' Somewhere up above, Jarl was soaring through the lunar airspace (lack of air aside) into the void, moving at one tenth of the speed of light. Not nearly as fast as the ship prepped for launch to Alpha Centauri, but fast enough that Chia figured he could enjoy the view provided the whole consciousness thing wasn't a load of mumbo jumbo.

_Guess he can see Earth. Not an Earthrise but-_

"Alright everyone," she heard Burlan say, interrupting her thoughts. She saw him too as she looked up. "One hour for reflection, prayer, whatever it is you do. After that, lecture's still on."

_Course it is._

The staff and applicants began to move around. Some tried to partake in conversation. Some didn't. In Chia's case, she avoided them altogether, moving towards a porthole that showed a view of the lunar surface.

_Dead. All dead._

_Nik's dead._

_Moon's not dead. It was never alive._

_Jarl's dead._

She shook it off. Or tried to. Some ship captains who did Sol system supply runs told tales of space madness, some even attributing it to malignant spirits.

_Are they on the moon too?_

_Moon's dead._

_Earth's dying._

_Nik's dead. Jarl's dead._

_Are they the same?_

_I-_

"Enough!" she yelled. "I've had it! I've fucking had it!"

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and stared at her.

"You!" she spat. "I've had it! All of you!"

"Ma'am, you-"

"He's dead! We'll follow! You-"

She stopped short as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She opened her mouth to speak. And closed it as she saw Burlan looking down at her.

"Miss Alignak?" he asked. "Walk with me."

* * *

"You're firing me."

"Dismissing, actually. Since this is during your probation, you were never technically hired."

Chia remained standing in place. Burlan remained seated at his desk. A desk bereft of anything bar his computer, writing utensils, and bizarrely, actual paper. All making the lack of any personal items such as holo-stills more apparent.

"You leave tomorrow," he said. "A shuttle will take you to the Hawaii Space Elevator. You can make your way back to New Zealand from there."

Chia still remained standing. She wanted to act angry. She wanted to _be _angry. Yet she couldn't. Wouldn't. Her mind was refusing to reach the state of rage that she wanted it to.

"You still here?" Burlan asked, now in the midst of typing on his computer.

"Yes," she answered. "I am."

"Why?"

"I…" She trailed off, beginning to pace back and forth. "I…"

"Miss Alignak, I have a lecture to give in half an hour, I don't have time for-"

"Oh fuck you!"

Chia lunged forward, swiping Burlan's stationary off the desk. It fell to the floor with barely any impact.

"Miss Alignak-"

She flung the computer off as well. It hit the floor. Undamaged.

"Miss Alignak, I'd like to remind you of the low gravity. A fall isn't going to do any damage."

"I…" Chia stood there, her fists clenched, her breath like a raging bull. "I-"

"Miss Alignak-"

"Jarl's dead!" she exclaimed, slamming her fists down on the desk and meeting Burlan's eye. "Don't you care?! Don't you fucking _care_?!"

"No."

Chia drew back. Her breathing slowed. Her eyes widened.

"Don't take it personally," Burlan said. "I've seen too many people die for my liking." He leant back in his chair, putting his feet on the desk. "I realized that if I was to survive, I had to distance myself from the people I train."

"And it's that easy huh?" she asked. "To just…switch off? To stop caring? To stop being _human_?!"

"Don't engage in philosophy Miss Alignak, it doesn't suit you."

"I'll do what I want. You've fired me. You can't tell me what to do."

"No, but I can still ask." Burlan put his feet down and leant back in his chair. "So I'll ask you this, Miss Alignak – why are you here?"

Chia opened her mouth. No words came out of it.

"Well?"

"I…came here to work."

"Bullshit."

Chia opened her mouth again. And like before, the words wouldn't follow.

"I know you type Miss Alignak," Burlan said. "You come here because you figure, why not? You're not here to work, you're here to fill in the void, or your time, or whatever. Jarl was one of those people and he paid the price."

"He died because of you!" Chia yelled.

"No, he died because some idiots used too much explosive," Burlan said. "But he wasn't here to work, was he?"

Chia remained silent, remembering Jarl's comments about seeing an Earthrise.

"Was he?" Burlan repeated.

"No," she whispered. "He wasn't."

"Of course not," Burlan said. "And neither are you." He leant forward over the desk. "So tell me Miss Alignak, why _are_ you here? Boredom? Wanderlust? Or is it because your brother died and this is your way of compensating?"

"Don't you dare," she whispered. "Don't you _dare _bring Nik into this."

"You brought him into this Chia," Burlan said. He got to his feet. "You brought him into this the moment you got on the shuttle that brought you here."

Chia remained silent. She didn't open her mouth this time. Because deep down, she knew there was nothing she could say. Nothing _to _say.

"Listen," Burlan said, walking over to her. "For what it's worth, I understand."

"Do you?" she whispered.

"Yes," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I've seen death. But I've seen life too. Or rather, lives ruined. You may hate me, but I'm saving you. Letting you live. Giving you another chance."

"Don't bullshit me."

"Alpha Centauri," he said. "And before you ask, yes, I've read your file. I've been in contact with Miss Mano. And she's still got that position open for you."

"And you think I should take it."

"Course I do," he said. "It's the chance of a lifetime."

Chia watched Burlan as he walked to a porthole. Watched as he looked out of it. What was the point, she wondered. The landscape was always the same. There weren't any stars to see either. And if Earth ever appeared in the porthole's field of vision, it wasn't a pretty sight anyway.

"Your brother died," Burlan said, still gazing out at the lunar landscape. "You lashed out. You came here. You've seen someone else die."

"I didn't ask for my life story."

"That isn't your life story Miss Alignak, that's just one chapter." He glanced back at her. "But you know that, don't you? That's why you've spent time beating around the bush instead of begging for your job."

"I-"

"It's true, isn't it?" he asked. "This entire time. You were just waiting for the pain to go away so you could think rationally."

Chia remained silent.

_Nik…_

Nik was dead. Her parents were dead. Jarl was dead.

"Don't stay here Miss Alignak," Burlan said. "There's too much death here. It won't help you. It won't help your family or friends. Want my advice? Help yourself."

Chia snorted. Help herself. The offer Phoebe had made to her. The opportunity for a better life. An opportunity she should have taken.

_Maybe I wasn't ready. Maybe I was stupid. But I…_

Chia walked over to the porthole. She looked out through it. The darkness of space looked back at her.

"Well?" Burlan asked. "What you going to do?"

Chia chucked. Then chuckled again. It had been so long since she'd laughed, she'd forgotten how therapeutic it was. Enough to get her to turn away and meet Burlan's gaze.

"Your view sucks," she said. "But it's made me realize something."

"What?"

"That…that I'm ready to see the stars."


	5. Epilogue: Stars

**Fallen Frontier: Hollow Wish**

**Epilogue: Stars**

The stasis module looked hollow.

In fact, it _was _hollow, assuming one held "hollow" to be synonymous with "empty." Such were Chia's thoughts as she floated in the zero-g environment of the _Zodiac_, staring down into the device through its glass hatch. It lay open for her, as if waiting. Like a Venus fly trap, ready to swallow her whole in a digestion period of twenty-five years.

"Chia?"

And in theory, she'd emerge from that process, converted into something new.

"Chia, you okay?"

She turned to face the one by the dragon's mouth. Phoebe.

"Yeah," she whispered. "I'm okay."

"Okay. We're okay then."

"Yeah. Okay."

"Oh…I mean, alright."

Phoebe drifted through the air, grabbing hold of the capsule with one hand while typing something on a pad beside it with her other. As she did so, Chia looked around the interior of the colony ship, at the rows upon rows of similar devices. At the people like her who floated by them, all of different gender, age, skin, the only similarity being the uniformly white, hospital-like clothing they wore. All people like her, willing to sleep for twenty-five years before awakening to a new life. A new world.

"Chee?"

"Don't...nevermind." Chia looked back at her cousin. She floated there.

"I'm opening the hatch," Phoebe said. "Mind your head."

Chia nodded. She watched as the hatch opened, revealing the capsule within. Empty. Hollow. Like a cradle, crying out for a newborn. Or a coffin, ready to carry the dead to the next life.

_I've seen enough coffins._

"Get in," Phoebe said.

Chia obliged, pulling herself into the…thing, as she called it. She remained still as best she could. And as Phoebe started pulling some straps around her waist, legs, and arms, remaining in place was what she did.

"Like an airplane, huh?" Chia asked.

"Not really," Phoebe said. She pressed something on the panel and an intravenous tube popped out from the side of the capsule, while some electrodes extended out from behind Chia's head. From a pouch on her side, Phoebe drew out a needle and swab. "On planes, you have the chance of staying awake."

"And in this case?"

"In this case, your body temperature will be lowered to ten degrees Celsius," Phoebe said as she worked with the tube and needle. "This little cocktail here is to prevent your blood from freezing." She made the injection. "Among other things."

"Like?"

"Oh, muscle stimulants, nano-bots for marrow regeneration nano-bots, stuff that will fight the effects of zero gravity on your body, that sort of thing."

"And the electrodes?"

"To monitor brain activity. Only thing we can't shut down indefinitely is the brain. So, the body will continue to feed blood to it. Throughout the trip, nutrients will be injected into your bloodstream to keep it oxygenated."

For a moment, Chia wanted to tear the straps off then and there. A moment later, as her heart began to race, that desire remained. She-

"Chia?"

…began to feel drowsy.

"You alright?"

"I'm…a little…"

"Sleepy?" Phoebe asked. "Part of the cocktail. Stasis process will do the rest of the work."

Chia nodded and laid her head back on the module's inner padding. It reminded her of her bed at home. A bed she'd never sleep in again.

_Or Nik. Like when he used it when he was sick cause it was more comfy…_

Chia blinked. Her eyes wanted to see, her eyelids wanted to call it quits. She wanted to raise a hand, to use it as a point of reference. Yet she couldn't. It was as if lead had replaced her bone.

"Phoebe…"

"Yes?"

Her cousin was still there though. And right now, that's all she wanted.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Hey, I did more than admin work on Europa," her cousin laughed. "And besides, if I was to get on this trip, I needed some medical skills as well. This kind of stuff," she said, gesturing around the ship's interior, "not that hard to learn."

"No, I mean…why?" Chia asked. "After the way I treated…you." She yawned, blinking her eyes, struggling to stay awake. "Why…you…?"

"Chia, you're a friend. Family. The only family both of us have left." She gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Family stays together. Family helps each other."

"And Nik?"

"Chee…"

"I…couldn't help him," Chia whispered, squinting her eyes, fighting tears. "I couldn't…save him. Or Jarl. Or mum. Or dad. Or…or…"

"Chia, I understand," Phoebe said. "Nik died. You were hurt."

"I hurt…you."

"And you needed to heal your own way. I get it. Really."

Chia nodded. It was all she could do to keep conscious.

"Don't fight it Chee," Phoebe said. "It's a long sleep, but I promise, I'll see you on the other side."

Chia nodded again. She blinked. She watched as a tear escaped her eye. As it floated up into the air. As it hit the glass casing of the capsule. As she saw Phoebe wave and drift away, for what would be the last time in twenty-five years.

_Will I dream?_

She didn't know. She'd forgotten to ask.

_Will I see Nik?_

She hoped not. Not in her dreams. Only in her memories.

_Will I see Jarl?_

If he was part of the universe…maybe. She didn't know.

_Will I die?_

Statistically, it was unlikely. According to Phoebe at least. Something to do with animal testing and experiments various governments were making with cryogenic incarceration on Earth.

_Won't see it again._

_Don't care._

Earth…it was going. Gone. Beyond her reach. On Centauri III, she'd have two natural satellites to see in the sky. Not a dying world in a starless sky seen from the moon.

Chia closed her eyes. She closed her soul. She let sleep take her. And let one last thought carry her.

The capsule…no longer felt hollow.

**The End**

* * *

_A/N_

_Won't beat around the bush. Suffice to say, story's over, don't currently have any other _Fallen Frontier _stories on my 'to write' list. Currently working on a _StarCraft _story titled _Downfall _for what it's worth._


End file.
